ENGINEERS OF WAR: THE PAUL FAMILY CIVIL WAR ARCHIVE OF CINCINNATI’S DEFENSES

A large archive of more than 150 items, including Civil War-era letters, business and family correspondence, seven memorandum and account books, assorted ephemera, one carte-de-visite, and a circa 1920 silver gelatin photograph. The archive is highlighted by the Civil War letters of three members of the Paul family who served as civilian contractors, primarily in connection with the defenses of Cincinnati: patriarch Hosea Paul, Sr. (1809–1870), eldest son Harrison “Harry” D. Paul (1835–1906), and third son Robert S. Paul (1842–1905). Also notable is the correspondence of Hosea Paul, Jr. (1845–1923), who managed the family business, Paul Brothers, a civil and mining engineering firm, during and after the war. Other letters and documents relate to brother T. Dwight Paul (1848–1912), sister Mary Paul (1839–1907), and matriarch Ellen Gamble Paul (1813–1889). Of particular interest is the family’s use of Pitman shorthand in correspondence between the Paul brothers and their father. The archive spans various locations, including Camp Big Hill, Madison County, Kentucky; Fort Whittlesey; Cincinnati; St. John’s Hill, Covington, Kentucky; Fort Burnside; City Point, Virginia; Philadelphia; and Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, dating from the 1840s to the early 1900s, with the bulk from the 1860s through the 1890s.

Vermont natives Hosea Paul, Sr. and his wife Ellen moved to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, around 1835 and established their family there. The elder Paul pursued a career as a surveyor and engineer, professions that five of his six sons would later follow. During the Civil War, Paul, Sr. served as a civilian contractor and chief of railroad location parties for the U.S. Engineers, 5th Division, Department of the Ohio. Robert Paul worked as a civilian contractor with the United States Engineers under the prominent U.S. Army officer James Hervey Simpson (1813–1883), Major and Chief Topographical Engineer. Around 1863, Robert was “appointed agent to take charge of the Quartermasters, and Commissary Stores, and other property pertaining to the military defenses of Newport [Kentucky].” Additional records indicate that he also served as an assistant engineer, likely in connection with the defenses of Cincinnati. Harrison Paul was admitted to the bar in 1859. Although he is identified in several biographical sources as having served with Company G, 1st Ohio Infantry, we have not been able to locate him in HDS. A biography of Hosea Paul, Jr., together with family correspondence, indicates that Harrison also served as an engineer alongside his father and brother on the defenses of Cincinnati. He is further listed as Commissioner of Deeds for Kentucky in Ohio in 1864. After the war, several of the Paul brothers continued in the surveying and engineering professions, eventually operating a successful business in northeast Ohio, while Harrison pursued a legal career.

The Civil War letters in the archive are almost entirely exchanged among members of the Paul family and focus primarily on family and personal matters, with occasional discussion of engineering work. The majority of the wartime correspondence is in the hands of Robert S. Paul and Hosea Paul, Jr. Of the approximately fifty war-dated letters, about twenty-six are written either entirely or in part in Pitman shorthand, a phonetic system designed for rapid writing and adapted for technical fields, including engineering. These shorthand letters remain untranslated and may contain additional engineering and wartime content, making the archive especially worthy of further study.

Notable contents of the archive include the following:

1. "Copy Report to Chf. Engr. Simpson Big Hill Road 1864." Unsigned, but likely authored by Hosea Paul, Sr. "Camp Big Hill Madison Co. Ky." 1 February 1864. 2 1/2 pp. Addressed to Lt. Col. J.H. Simpson.

Paul reports on the "number of days works done by colored Laborers on the 'Big Hill Road' in the month of January 1864" as well as the challenges faced due to weather and "want of suitable tools...."

2. Undated, unsigned portion of a letter from Hosea Paul, Sr. describing and illustrating the design of camp fortifications near the bridges along the Kentucky River.

3. Paul, Robert S. Autograph letter signed to his mother and father. Cincinnati, OH. 25 August 1862. 3pp, 7 3/4 x 9 3/4 in.

A descriptive letter written while Paul resides in Cincinnati seeking a military appointment. He describes the city of Cincinnati, its inhabitants, and sharing a boarding house with Mrs. McCook, the widow of Gen. Robert McCook and mother of the "Fighting McCooks." "The whole family that I have seen look alike ...This noon Col. Dan McCook marched his regiment, 1300 strong and completely equipped, by the boarding house to let his mother see it which was very accommodating."

4. Houghton, J. Skillen, surgeon. Autograph letter signed to Robert Paul discussing Paul's "spermalorrhoea" and the necessary remedies. Philadelphia, PA. 21 October 1863. On "Howard Association, Philadelphia" letterhead. 2pp, 8 x 10.

An interesting assessment of a soldier's sexual disfunction now commonly believed to have been a non-existent malady. 

5. Two documents signed by Lt. Col. J.H. Simpson: an autograph note signed, "Office U.S. Engr." Cincinnati, 22 January 1864. 1p, 5 x 5 1/2 in.

Simpson requests a meeting with Robert S. Paul "at as early an hour as practicable." Orders signed on "Office of U.S. Engineers, District of Kentucky, and U.S. Engineer Agency, Armies of the West" letterhead. Cincinnati, 1 November 1864. 1p, 8 x 6 in. Simpson authorizes Robert S. Paul to open boxes sent from Camp Nelson and to take articles for use at Fort Burnside.

6. Autograph letter signed from Harrison Paul to his brother George. Cincinnati, 15 June 1861. 4pp, 5 1/4 x 8 1/4 in.

"Harry" describes a recent visit to Camp Dennison including the buildings, layout, camp life, and an amusing anecdote about the the men of the Guthrie Greys, "who are among the first boys of the city."

7. An incomplete, unsigned manuscript authored by a solder apparently serving as a clerk at Union headquarters, Military Division of the Mississippi, in Nashville. Ca. March - June 1864. 20pp, 7 3/4 x 10 in. Author's reflections include discussion of occupied Nashville and of Union generals including Grant and Sherman.

8. Assorted pre- and post-war documents and correspondence related to the engineering and surveying businesses run by Hosea Paul, Sr. and later the Paul brothers. Includes a business card "R.S. & H. Paul, Civil Engineers, and Surveyors. Perry, (Neillsburg.) Venango County, PA." Also with a small amount of correspondence associated with the post-war law practice of Harrison Paul.

9. Two photographic images, including: a full-length albumen CDV studio portrait of 4 unidentified gentlemen with surveying equipment. N.p., n.d. Photographer's imprint to mount verso "D.C. Delano, Photographer." Image may depict the Paul brothers. Approx. 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 photo of 13 aged men in an outdoor setting, some posed with instruments. Modern pencil inscription on verso "Uncle Simon's Civil War Veterans Friends around mid 1920s."

10. Nineteenth-century ephemera from the Cuyahoga Falls region, including various school-related handbills and programs, a printed "Cuyahoga Falls Literary Club" invitation, and an 1847 printed broadside "To the Citizens of Cuyahoga Falls" from "Directors of the Common Schools" suggesting a plan for the construction of a larger school to alleviate capacity issues and accommodate the portion of the population that has been "mutilating" existing school houses by "stoning windows, breaking open doors and destroying seats within...."

[Civil War, Union, Engineer] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Autographs, Ephemera]

Letters and documents generally in good condition with expected wear, creasing, and toning. Several letters seemingly incomplete. Letters composed in Pitman shorthand not translated.